UFC Fight Night 55 results: Marcus Brimage KOs Jumabieke Tuerxun with massive head kick

SYDNEY – Dodging head kicks is sometimes a matter of inches, but in the evening’s first bout those inches favored Marcus Brimage.

After faking low to bring down the guard of Jumabieke Tuerxun, Brimage (7-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) fired off a head kick that just barely caught the chin of Tuerxun (14-3 MMA, 0-3 UFC), snapping the Chinese fighters head to one side and felling him like a tree to bring a stop to the bout at 2:58 of round one.

The bantamweight bout opened up the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night55 event at Allphones Arena in Sydney. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Upon first glance, the kick that ended the fight appeared to do little more than graze Tuerxun. If not for the loud smack it produced, it might have looked like a clear miss in real time. But once it landed, just managing to clip the edge of the chin, Tuerxun teetered back into a slow fall, ending up with his head propped up by the cage fence and his eyes open, but unresponsive.

Not one to waste time, Brimage dove in for a couple follow-up punches to seal the win, even if he didn’t need them. With a quicker reaction from the referee, Tuerxun might have been spared that extra bit of damage, even if he likely won’t remember it.

With the win, Brimage snaps a two-fight losing streak. Tuerxun is now winless in three tries with the UFC.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 55 results include:

• Marcus Brimage def. Jumabieke Tuerxun via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 2:58

For complete coverage of UFC 179, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie correspondent Michael Spencer contributed to this report on site in Sydney.)